They get along like oil and water
- Thread starter joflier
- Start date
- Status
susimoo
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2010
- Messages
- 1,807
[Q] From Jeremy Redgrove in Australia: Do you know the origin of the expression chalk and cheese? I heard that it came from two neighbouring counties (I think Devon and Dorset) and their contrasting products of chalk and cheese.
[A] As different as chalk and cheese is an old proverbial phrase to suggest that two things, superficially alike, are totally different in their qualities. There’s nothing in its history to suggest these two counties had anything to do with it — it sounds like yet another folk etymology to me.
The earliest example — from John Gower’s Confessio Amantis of 1393 — suggests that some shopkeeper was making an illicit profit by adulterating his wares: “And thus ful ofte chalk for cheese he changeth with ful littel cost”. The buyer was surely undiscerning; though some British cheeses are rather chalk-like in appearance, substituting more than a tiny proportion of cheese with chalk wouldn’t fool anybody for very long.
By the sixteenth century, the phrase had become a fixed expression. Hugh Latimer wrote rather sarcastically around 1555: “As though I could not discern cheese from chalk.”
Hope that helps! LOL
[A] As different as chalk and cheese is an old proverbial phrase to suggest that two things, superficially alike, are totally different in their qualities. There’s nothing in its history to suggest these two counties had anything to do with it — it sounds like yet another folk etymology to me.
The earliest example — from John Gower’s Confessio Amantis of 1393 — suggests that some shopkeeper was making an illicit profit by adulterating his wares: “And thus ful ofte chalk for cheese he changeth with ful littel cost”. The buyer was surely undiscerning; though some British cheeses are rather chalk-like in appearance, substituting more than a tiny proportion of cheese with chalk wouldn’t fool anybody for very long.
By the sixteenth century, the phrase had become a fixed expression. Hugh Latimer wrote rather sarcastically around 1555: “As though I could not discern cheese from chalk.”
Hope that helps! LOL
radiantquest
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2008
- Messages
- 2,550
Toothpaste and Orange Juice?
radiantquest
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2008
- Messages
- 2,550
Laxatives and Sleeping Pills?
PumpkinPie
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2010
- Messages
- 2,841
haha!
PumpkinPie
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2010
- Messages
- 2,841
I love the expression chalk and cheese.. makes me have an immediate "yum" reaction in my mouth for the cheese, and "blech" reaction for the chalk.. I guess that''s the point! 
jaysonsmom
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2004
- Messages
- 4,570
Not sure if you only want sayings that include 2 non-comparable things, but a couple that come to mind:
1) They rub each other the wrong way
2) Fight like cats and dogs
that_someone_special
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2008
- Messages
- 5,384
It''s like putting a D color IF diamond into a I3 diamond clarity setting
- Status
300x240.png)